


Putting Things Right

by st_mick



Series: Niffler [19]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Torchwood
Genre: Could RTD's writing team not come up with any surnames other than Jones?, Definitely not talking about plot points I didn't like ;), Heavy "The Stolen Earth" / "Journey's End" Tweakage, I wouldn't have named him Theodophilus had I realized what a pain it is to type, M/M, Putting Things Right - totally talking about the planets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-29
Updated: 2019-04-29
Packaged: 2020-02-09 14:53:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18640363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/st_mick/pseuds/st_mick
Summary: The Earth has been ripped from its own solar system and moved across the universe.  So there's that.  The Doctor's former companions band together to find him, in hopes that he will fix it.  Jack leaves the hub to join the Doctor seconds before the Daleks find Torchwood...Sound familiar?  Well, the devil's in the details, and I've played hell with those buggers.  :)





	Putting Things Right

News and other broadcasts were up on various screens around the hub.  Paul O’Grady made a joke, wondering whether he’d been drinking furniture polish.  Feeling punchy, Ianto laughed, along with Owen and Harry.

“Ianto, time and a place,” Jack admonished, wincing.  He was beyond tense, and treating his young lover like a child was not the appropriate response.  _Sorry._

Ianto blew him a telepathic kiss. “s’Funny, though,” he said aloud as he turned away from the screen.

Gwen was speaking to Rhys.  Ianto sidled up to Jack and asked if he could apparate to their flat and retrieve him for Gwen.

“Let’s get a better handle on what we’re dealing with first, all right?” Jack squeezed Ianto’s shoulder, appreciating the wizard’s thoughtfulness.  He turned back to the monitor and observed that there was an artificial atmospheric shell surrounding the planet.

“So whoever’s done this wants to keep us alive,” Owen observed.  “That’s a plus.”

Ianto had an uneasy feeling that it wasn’t necessarily the silver lining they hoped.  “Twenty-seven planets, including the Earth,” he said, watching another monitor.

“No, but what’s that?” Gwen asked, pointing.  “That’s not a planet.”

“Definitely a structure,” Tosh replied.  “Some sort of space station, I’d guess.”

“We’ve got incoming,” Jack said, pointing to the screen, which showed a mass of ships approaching.

“Three thousand miles and closing,” Tosh said. 

“But who are they?” Gwen asked.

Jack’s mobile began to ring.  He picked up, saying, “Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale.  Tell me you put something in my drink.”

They went on to discuss where Martha was, and her lack of success in tracking down the Doctor.  She then told him she was working on Project Indigo.

“Did you get that thing working?” Jack asked.

“Indigo’s top secret.  No one’s supposed to know about it.”

“I met a soldier in a bar,” Jack said, then realized how that sounded.  “Long story.”

“When was that?” Ianto asked, trying not to smirk as Jack squirmed, a bit.

“Strictly professional,” Jack declared, and for once, it was the truth.  He was rewarded with a smacked bottom as Ianto moved around to look over Tosh’s shoulder at her screen.

“They’re almost here,” Tosh said.  “They’re broadcasting something.”  She flipped a switch, and the hub was filled with shrill voices, screaming.

“Exterminate!  Exterminate!  Exterminate!”

Ianto’s legs gave out and he crashed onto his knees.  “No,” he whimpered, as Owen and Harry moved to help him back up.

“Oh, no,” Jack said, his voice filled with a quiet panic none had heard from him, before.

“What is it?  Who are they?  Do you know them, Jack?”

Ianto would have paid real money to get Gwen to shut up, right about then.  He wrapped his arms around Owen and Harry, trembling so violently he was having trouble keeping his feet. 

“I’m sorry,” Jack pulled Tosh and Gwen close, kissing each of them.  “We’re dead.”

“Daleks,” Ianto whispered, unable to control the flashbacks to Canary Wharf.  He fell to his knees again, pulling his friends down with him.  He curled up and counted to one hundred, giving himself permission to panic, just for a moment. 

Then he slowly pulled himself back together.

Theodophilus Jones stayed back, watching his grandson fall apart, curled up on one of the walkways of the hub.  He heard the young man counting, and decided for the moment to see how he coped.  Clearly he had dealt with these creatures before, as had Jack, and it had not gone well.  After a couple of minutes, he watched Ianto compose himself and stand.  He walked to Jack and put a hand on his shoulder.  “That’s as may be.  But not without a fight, Jack.”

That was all it took.  Everyone regrouped and they began monitoring what was happening.  Ianto felt guilty that part of him felt relief when the Valiant went down.  Then Martha activated Project Indigo, and Jack lost his momentum.

“Martha’s down,” he spat.  Ianto clasped his shoulder, speechless.

Before long, everyone was sitting around, shaken and dejected as they listened to the UN issue Earth’s unconditional surrender.

“Is this really happening?” Gwen asked, in shock.

Without another thought, Ianto disapparated.  Jack began cursing loudly.  Ianto returned several minutes later, with Rhys, who folded Gwen into his arms as they both wept.

Pale-faced, Ianto looked at Harry and his grandfather.  “ _Avada Kedavra_ works on them, but only head on.  A glancing hit will ricochet.”

“And how did you discover this?” Jack asked, his voice angry.

“Started shooting spells out the window, didn’t he?” Rhys laughed shakily.

“Only the two,” Ianto said.  “They couldn’t figure out where the spells were coming from, and I decided not to push our luck.”  He stood straighter and shot his cuffs, returning Jack’s anger with defiance.  “Useful information, though.”

Jack huffed and turned away.

Ianto checked on Luna, who was still unconscious, then went to make coffee.  As he handed it out, a voice could be heard through a great deal of static.  “This message is of the utmost importance.  We haven’t much time.  Can anyone hear me?”

Tosh returned to her workstation.  “Someone’s trying to get in touch,” she frowned, tapping keys.  “That’s odd,” she muttered.

“The whole earth’s crying out,” Jack said, his voice disheartened.  “Just leave it.”

The image resolved and a voice admonished, “Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you.  Now stand to attention, Sir!”

“What?  Who is that?” Jack rushed to the monitor, followed quickly by the others.

“Harriet Jones,” she held up her identification wallet.  “Former Prime Minister.”

“Yeah, I know who you are,” Jack failed to hide his smile.

Harriet quickly patched through Sarah Jane Smith and, much to everyone’s relief and delight, Martha.  After a brief detour to head off Jack’s flirting with Sarah Jane, Harriet went on to explain about the Subwave Network.

As Harriet forbade Martha from using the Osterhagen Key, Jack saw a flash of gold in the corner of his eye, then saw Martha frown and rub her temple.  Ianto staggered back, and Jack reached out to steady him. 

“Fucking UNIT,” the younger man muttered.

“Indeed,” Harriet replied.  “Forget about the key.  That’s an order.  All we need is the Doctor.”

Sarah Jane challenged Harriet, who very eloquently defended her choices as Prime Minister.  Ianto couldn’t help but think that the Master would not have had such an easy time coming to power, had the Doctor not taken it upon himself to depose Harriet Jones.  He shoved the thought from his mind and focused on what she was saying, now.

The former companions quickly showed the cleverness that had clearly drawn the Doctor to each of them in the first place, pooling their resources and coming up with a plan to contact the Doctor.  Ianto immediately spotted the flaw in the plan. 

“Excuse me.  Sorry.”  Feeling awkward, he stepped to the side, crowding Jack in front of the monitor.  “Sorry.  Hello.  Ianto Jones.  If we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible.  I mean, to the Daleks.”

“Yes,” Harriet calmly replied, “and they’ll trace it back to me.  But my life doesn’t matter.  Not if it saves the Earth.”

“Ma’am,” Jack saluted her, and they began their work, the team members working swiftly and efficiently.  Soon they were sending out the signal.

A quarter hour later, Toshiko spoke up.  “Harriet, a saucer has locked onto your location.  They’ve found you.”

“I know,” Harriet answered calmly.  “I’m using the Network to mask your transmission.  Keep going.”

In the background, they could see Harriet’s curtains blow in as the windows were broken.  The sound of the Daleks crying, “Exterminate!” made them cringe.

“Captain, I’m transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood.  You’re in charge, now.  And tell the Doctor from me that he chose his companions well.  It’s been an honor.”

She got up and turned from the camera to face the three Daleks who were now in her living room.

Ianto looked at his grandfather and nodded.  Then he turned to Jack and kissed him.  “I’m sorry.  I can’t stand by and watch this happen.”

“Harriet Jones, Former Prime Minister.”

“Yes,” came the mechanical reply, “we know who you are.”

Before Jack could stop him, Ianto disapparated.

“Oh, you know nothing of any human, and that will be your downfall.”  She jumped as Ianto appeared by her side.  “You!” she cried.

“Exterminate!”

“Me,” Ianto smiled, pulling her behind him, casting a shield charm, and turning on the spot.

The others watched the screen dissolve into static as the Daleks’ weapons fired.  “Ianto!” Jack screamed.

A few moments later, Ianto and Harriet apparated into the hub.  Jack felt a strange sense of déjà vu as the force of the Dalek’s blast propelled them backwards.  Theodophilus conjured a large cushion as Harry tried to slow their momentum.  The cushion caught Harriet, but Ianto landed face down in the pool by the water tower.  He did not get up.

“Ianto!” Jack called out, rushing to his side and turning him over.  Owen was there beside him.  “I’ve got a heartbeat.  Looks like he was just knocked out.”

Jack looked at Owen, his face pale.  “That’s a concussion, for sure,” he muttered, knowing from experience that it would take a hell of a hit to render Ianto unconscious.

“That’d be my guess,” Owen replied.  “But it may not have been a blow to the head.  We don’t know what happened when those things opened up on them.”

Theodophilus waited to hear that his grandson was still breathing, then made his way over to Harriet.  He offered her a hand.  “Take your time.  Side-along apparition can be unpleasant and disorientating,” he said kindly.  As he helped her to her feet, he added, “That was very brave, ma’am,” he told her, a smile in his voice.

“I did not,” she looked around, trying to get her bearings.  She realized that she was now in the Torchwood hub.  In Cardiff.  Not in her lovely home in Surrey.  She accepted that even if they won the day, her lovely home in Surrey was likely ash, by now.  She shook her head, trying to clear it.  “I did not expect to survive.”

“Yeah, but live heroes are always more useful than dead ones,” Ianto snarked, sitting up.  As the hub spun unpleasantly, he groaned and fell back, with Jack easing him back so he was reclining against him.

“You’re an idiot, have I told you that?” Jack asked.  He knew he shouldn’t be this upset.  After all, Ianto would revive, if… if… 

And it finally hit him, why it always upset Ianto so badly, to see him die. 

_Love you too, pumpkin butt._

Jack raised an eyebrow.  Then he laughed and kissed Ianto soundly.  “Fair enough, just never out loud.”  _Kitten._

“So what the hell just happened?” Owen asked.

“They shot at us,” Harriet said, sitting on a chair that Theodophilus had led her to.  “And it sort of… rebounded on them.  And then I think they all exploded.”  She nodded to Ianto.  “My friend here…”

“Ianto,” Ianto smiled.

“Yes, of course.  My friend Ianto stood in front of me, so he took the brunt of the impact.  It was like some sort of shock wave.  And then we were… well, I don’t know what we were.  Felt like being balled up like a piece of waste paper.  And then we were here.”  She looked at Ianto.  Why did you do that?”

“We Joneses have to stick together,” he grinned.  “And now we know that a shield charm can take one of their blasts, though apparently there is a ricochet risk with that, as well.”  It was not lost on anyone that he was still leaning heavily against Jack, and it was not just because that was his favorite place to be.  He closed his eyes.

“You all right, mate?” Owen asked.

“Got the spins,” he said, taking a deep breath.  “Without any of the fun getting them.”  He forced himself to sit up.  Owen reached out to steady him.

“Jack?” Tosh called.

Jack stood and ran to her monitor, and saw that the Doctor and a ginger woman were now occupying the quarter of the screen that Harriet had just vacated.  “Where the hell have you been?” he shouted, though it was clear that it was anxiety rather than anger that provoked his outburst.  “Doctor, it’s the Daleks.”

They did little more than speak before the transmission was hijacked by Davros, who seemed keen on showing everyone just how mad he actually was, though his madness was nothing on the one called Dalek Caan. 

“I flew into the wild and fire.  I danced and died, a thousand times,” the creature sang.

“Well, he’s fun,” Ianto snarked, holding his head.

After the Doctor left the conversation, Jack spoke with Martha to get the teleportation feature on his vortex manipulator working, again.  Ianto was not pleased, but Jack kissed him as he passed by.  “You’re injured.  I can’t ask you to apparate if you still have vertigo.”  The stony silence was all the reply he needed in order to know he was going to have a lot to make up for, if they made it through this.  Jack ran to the armory to grab the only gun they had that would work against the Daleks.

“Dalek saucer heading for the Bay,” Tosh said quietly.  “They’ve found us.”

The four team members shared a look, then nodded.  Ianto went and grabbed Jack’s coat.  Gwen held his gun as Ianto helped him into it, his hands smoothing across the shoulders as Gwen handed the gun back.  He turned so he was facing them all.  “I’ve got to go.  I’ve got to find the Doctor.”  He couldn’t hide the excitement in his features.  Another adventure with the Doctor!  “I’ll come back,” he smiled.  He looked at them, his beloved team.  They were looking back, their faces grim.  “I’m coming back,” he repeated.  Did they not believe him?

“Don’t worry about us,” Gwen smiled.

“Just go,” Tosh added with her own smile.

Owen nodded.

Ianto stepped forward and kissed his cheek.  “We’ll be fine.”

“You’d better be,” Jack grinned and vanished.

An explosion rocked the hub.  “Exterminate!  Exterminate!” could be heard through the layers of concrete between them and the violent giant pepper pots.

“They’re here,” Gwen looked around.

“Right,” Ianto said, thinking fast.  “Tosh, lock us down.  Harry, Taid… are you willing to make a stand with me?”

The hub went into lockdown as both men answered in the affirmative.

“Harry, can you do a portkey to the Ministry?  We’ll send everyone else there, and we’ll follow, when we can.”  He looked up, wondering if he could get Myfanwy portkeyed out, as well.  Then he thought of Janet and their other guests, downstairs.  He sighed, unhappy that there wasn’t enough time to try to get any of them to safety.

“We can’t leave,” said Luna, sitting up.  She looked weak and shaky, but her voice was strong.  “They will need the energy from the Rift, if they succeed.”

Ianto nodded.  “Then we stay.  And we portkey Tosh, Owen, Gwen, Rhys, and Harriet to the Ministry.  They can let them know how to fight, or at least defend against, the Daleks.”  He looked at Luna.  “Is it too late to make the hub unplottable?”

“Certainly couldn’t hurt.  A masking spell, too – might confuse those not already here.”

“So we don’t need to catch you up?” he smiled.

“Daleks have moved the Earth across the universe and plan to unmake reality,” she announced, the last bit taking them by surprise.  “If all goes well, then the Doctors will stop it and get us back where we’re meant to be.  But,” she reached out and clutched Ianto’s forearm.  “We must save…” she was cut off as the Daleks broke through the outer defenses.

Ianto looked from Luna to his grandfather.  “Can one of you do a masking spell, and the other make us unplottable?”

“I am good with masking spells,” Theodophilus offered.

“I’ll do the other,” Luna replied. 

They got to work. 

“Portkey is ready,” Harry called out.

“All right, you lot,” Ianto turned to the muggles.  “Off you go.”

“The bloody hell we will,” Owen spat angrily.

“Owen, we don’t have time to argue,” Ianto said.  “Please go.  We have no weapons that will do anything to the Daleks, other than the unforgivable curse.  And the shields take a lot of energy to maintain.”

Owen turned mulish.  From the looks on the others’ faces, they weren’t planning on going, either.  “At least Harriet and Rhys?” he gave one last effort.

“No way,” Rhys crossed his arms.

“I’m afraid not, Mr. Jones,” Harriet said.

Ianto huffed, but then he turned back towards the cog wheel door as it was forced open by a Dalek.  “Exterminate!  Exterminate!”

He swallowed.  “I’m the strongest.  I’ll hold a shield in place as you three send the curses.”   He’d already thrown up a tremendous shield between them and their uninvited guest.  “I’m sorry to leave you to the unforgivable…”

“Shut up, Nif,” Harry said, carving a hole in the shield large enough to point his wand.  Luna and Theodophilus were doing the same.  “ _Avada Kedavra_!” he cried.

They all stared as the green light of the curse sat suspended in mid-air, pointed directly at the Dalek, which just sat there, frozen.

“Yes!” Toshiko crowed.

Ianto dropped the shield and turned.  “It worked!” he said, picking her up and hugging her, then swinging her around as they laughed.

“What the hell just happened?” Owen asked, already tired of repeating himself.

“It’s a Time Lock,” Tosh answered, when Ianto finally set her back on her feet.  “The ultimate defense program.  We’re sealed in a time bubble.  Nothing can get in.”

“But that means we can’t get out,” Gwen said.

“Nope.  Not without unlocking the Daleks that have us surrounded,” she pointed at the monitors that showed dozens of Daleks up on the Plass.  They were also locked.  “There aren’t any others joining them, so I think whatever you two did to mask us and make us unplottable worked,” she said to Luna and Theodophilus.

“It’s all up to Jack, now,” Ianto said.  Then he looked at Tosh, a slow smile forming.  “Hey, Tosh?”

“Hey, Ianto?”

“Remember that time that you may or may not have bribed me with that lovely red broadcloth shirt to give you a few minutes alone with Jack’s vortex manipulator?”

“Of course not,” she answered, grinning.

“I didn’t think so,” he returned her grin as Owen barked out a laugh.  “But if you _did_ remember such a thing, would it give you the opportunity to hack in and give us a bird’s eye view of what’s going on?”

“Using our handy new undetectable Subwave Network, you mean?” she had a glint in her eye.

“Perhaps.”

“Are they always this precious?” Harriet asked, her voice torn between weary and amused.

“Coffee?” Ianto ignored her as the others chuckled.

“A chocolate biscuit wouldn’t go amiss, either,” she giggled as she turned to her monitors.

Ianto swept her a deep bow, eliciting another giggle, before heading to the kitchen.  Only Luna noticed that he had to steady himself on the door frame.  “What’s wrong?” she asked, following him into the kitchen.

“Hmm?” he asked absently.  “Oh, that,” he backpedaled at her cross look.  “Never bow dramatically when you still have a bit of leftover vertigo.”

“Vertigo?”

He told her about retrieving Harriet.

She looked closely at him.  “I think you should rest.  You and I are going to need to be at our best, if we’re going to help…”

“Wizard boy!  Are there any crisps up there?”

Luna chuckled as Ianto rolled his eyes and finished making the coffee.  Once it was delivered, Owen handed him two tablets.

“For your head,” he said.

“Alien?”

“You know me well.”

Ianto shrugged and swallowed the tablets, hoping they’d put a dent in the massive headache he was nursing.

“So,” Harry said, leaning against one of the desks.  “What’s the Osterhagen Key?”

“Yeah,” Owen grinned.  “Don’t think we didn’t catch the glowy eyeball thing.”

“And the one called Martha having a sudden headache,” Harry added.  He always got a headache when someone used legilimency on him.

“How did I not know that there was a wizard in Torchwood?” Harriet asked.

“Because I started out at One,” Ianto replied.  “The Ministry was well aware of Hartman’s questionable ideas, and what lengths she was allowed to go to for the sake of forwarding ‘the Empire’.  They were confident that if she knew about wizards, she’d want one, for testing.  And for once, they were looking out for me.  No one knew.  Jack didn’t even know, until the Year.”

“You never said how Jack found out,” Owen said.

“My magic unspooled when the Master tortured me to death, the first time,” Ianto remarked offhandedly, moving one of the monitors for Toshiko.  He looked up when everyone went silent and found them all staring at him.  “Doesn’t matter,” he quickly added, realizing he’d said that last bit aloud.  “Jack knew, even after time reset, and I knew he knew, and there really was no point in carrying on such a silly charade.  So I got permission from Kingsley and figured out a way for it to come out.”

“And don’t think that deflected us from finding out about the Osterhagen Key,” Toshiko called out, her fingers still dancing across the keyboard.

“Yeah, nice try,” Owen winked at Harriet.

“Apparently, UNIT thought it’d be a nifty idea to bury twenty-five nukes around the planet, and blow it apart if things ever got hairy.”

“Bollocks!” Owen shouted, as everyone else turned and stared, stunned at the news.

“UNIT has stepped into the shoes of Torchwood One, in terms of hubris and idiocy,” Harriet sighed.

“You really think Martha would go through with it?” Owen asked, incredulous.  “You really think she’d blow the tits off the planet, after having traveled with the Doctor?”

“I don’t know,” Ianto huffed.  “I imagine she’d do what the Doctor does.  Give them a chance to back down.  But I don’t think bluffing a Dalek is wise.”

“Certainly not,” Harriet replied.

Theodophilus Jones looked around at the group, amazed that they just seemed to take these things in stride.  The visiting witch and wizard – Luna and Harry – were also staring at them, stunned.  He felt some relief that he was not the only one there who felt out of his depth. 

As he watched his grandson quietly strategize and take charge (despite the fact that he wasn’t the second-in-command), he felt great pride.  He was pleased that he would now – hopefully – have the chance to get to know this extraordinary young man.

A quarter hour later, Tosh called out, “I’ve got it!”

There was no video, but there was audio.  They heard a Dalek say, “The TARDIS has been destroyed.”

“Oh, no!” Tosh voiced their horror.

“Now tell me, Doctor.  What do you feel?  Anger?  Sorrow?  Despair?”

“Yeah,” came the Doctor’s quiet reply.

“Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?”

“Yeah?” Jack shouted.  “Feel this!”

They heard shots fired, doubtless from his Webley.

“Exterminate!”

The Dalek weapon firing sounded loud in the hub.

“Damn it, Jack,” Ianto closed his eyes.  He felt their bond snap, and he winced.  It was Jack’s first death since… that night.

“Jack!  Oh, my God!  Oh, no!” came a female voice.

They listened as the Doctor gathered Rose from Jack’s side and they were taken from the room.  Ianto drew in a deep breath of relief as he felt the bond reconnect.

“He’s back,” Tosh said, watching the vortex manipulator’s readout of Jack’s vitals on the side of the screen.

“What?” Theodophilus exclaimed.

“So the rumors were true,” Harriet nodded.

“I suppose there are some things you should know,” Ianto turned away from the screen.  He explained about his magic, and Jack’s vortex, and the Salem 2000 weapon, and what had happened that night, almost two months ago. 

“I noticed the wandless magic,” Theodophilus said, thinking back to that impressive shield charm Ianto had cast when the Dalek showed up.  “Which explains you doing legilimency without a wand.  But why do your eyes glow?”

“Ooh, can I tell him?”  Tosh giggled. 

“You just like saying it,” Ianto grinned and gestured for her to proceed.

“He’s an animagus.  And one of his animagus forms is a _Wampus Cat_!” she beamed.

“One of…” Theodophilus trailed off.  He remembered something from his magical creatures studies at Hogwarts a lifetime ago… something about the Wampus Cat being a natural Legilimens, and something about yellow eyes.  Well, Ianto’s eyes had taken on more of a glittering golden glow, but perhaps the animagus attributes gave him the ability to practice legilimency more powerfully and precisely without his wand.

In the next moment, they heard a Dalek.  “Commence disposal.  Incinerate!”

“No!” Ianto said, going pale and rushing back to the monitor, though it only showed the audio player and Jack’s vitals.  He didn’t even want to imagine the pain of coming back from ash.  They heard mechanical shifting, like something sliding along a track, and heavy doors opening and closing.  “Jack,” he said weakly as they heard some sort of scrabbling and the whooshing of flames.

Then another door opened and closed, and Jack was coughing, and then they heard him running.  “Christ,” Ianto said, shaking.  That was it.  He was done.  If he didn’t take a break, he’d cause one, at this point.  “I’m going to go lie down.  Please come wake me if anything happens, or in an hour.”  He stalked off towards Jack’s bunker, his anger the only thing steadying his steps.  From Jack’s office, he called back.  “Luna?  You said we both need to be rested, for whatever the hell else is going to happen.  Might as well c’mon!”

“Stroppy,” Luna huffed a chuckle and followed along, also less steady on her feet than they could hope.

“Concussion?” Gwen asked, pointing her chin towards Jack’s office.

“Not sure,” Owen answered.  “I’ll scan him after he sleeps.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to let someone with a concussion sleep,” she said.

“He’ll be fine.  Especially if he only sleeps an hour or two.”

There were a few moments of silence as everyone just sort of glanced at everyone else.  Rhys introduced himself to Harriet and Theodophilus, and then he started helping clean up around the hub.  Harry used his magic to repair the damage.  Theodophilus and Harriet struck up a conversation, at least until Owen noticed them.

“So tell me, Gramps,” he said, twirling his chair to face Theodophilus and Harriet, who were now seated on the sofa.  “Why were you such a wanker, when you first showed up?”

“I don’t appreciate your tone, Dr. Harper,” Harriet said, drawing herself up.

“It’s all right,” Theodophilus chuckled.  “He’s not wrong.  I showed up here acting like a complete jackass.”

“You were trying to provoke him,” Tosh said, her eyes wide.

He chuckled.  “I admit, I was.  How else to see his magical abilities, when I knew he didn’t trust me enough, to just tell me.  I was expecting him to have his father’s temper, but he’s more like his grandfather.”  He looked at Harriet, then clarified, “His maternal grandfather, that is.  Ioan.  We were school friends.”

“I see,” she said kindly.

“I have tried to get in touch with Ifan, in the years since his father died.  Every few months, I’ll send an owl.  And always within a day, I’ll receive a reply.  A very polite, ‘No, thank you.’  I knew his father had told him something or other, to be sure he would want nothing to do with me, I just never knew what.  So I will admit, when I arrived, I was already on the defensive, knowing he’d likely show me the door before I could even say hello.”

He cleared his throat, then, blinking very fast as he fought the emotion that had arisen.  “But when I realized just how badly Aeron had treated Ifan…  His own _son_ ,” he sighed.  “Antagonism is the last thing my grandson needs from his only living relative.”  He waved a hand.  “Other than that sister of his,” he qualified reluctantly.  “And behaving provocatively would only remind him of his father, and I’d just as soon distance myself from that comparison.”

Owen nodded.  “Glad you came around, then,” he said, and twirled back to his monitor.

“What’s wrong with your granddaughter?” Gwen asked bluntly.

“She’s a lovely young woman, actually,” Theodophilus smiled.  “But she is very bitter about being a squib.  She took me up on my offer to get to know her better, after their father passed.  But… as I said, she is very bitter, particularly towards her brother.”  He glanced towards Jack’s office.  “I don’t imagine Ifan had an easy time of it, growing up with three squibs, two of whom were very angry and resentful that they did not have any magic.  Glenda was lovely, but I doubt she was able to shield him from the wrath of the others.”

***

Ianto and Luna managed to sleep for almost three hours.  Gwen had Rhys go and wake them when Martha began broadcasting to the Daleks.  The three emerged from Jack’s office as she threw down her gauntlet.  Then a broadcast from the Crucible, itself.  A very familiar voice boomed, “Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls.”

Ianto began to wish they’d let him sleep as Jack threatened to detonate a Warp Star in the Crucible’s mainframe.  He was fairly certain that the explosion of something called a ‘Warp Star’ was not something Jack would revive from.

The upside was that Davros seemed to freak out (if only for a moment) when he recognized Sarah Jane.  And then the cruel diatribe against the Doctor.  Ianto thought that while the Time Lord might abhor violence, he was certainly not afraid to use it, as a last resort.  So if his clever companions figured out a way to try to defeat the Daleks – and really, how could that be done _peacefully_? – Why find fault with them for it?

But there the Doctor stood, brooding and pouting because while he was standing there being a prisoner, the others were at least _trying_ to do something.

Ianto realized he might still have some unresolved anger towards the Doctor, for Canary Wharf, Harold Saxon, the Year that Never Was, and calling Jack wrong.

He set these thoughts aside as transmat beams seized Martha from her bunker and Jack, Sarah Jane, and the two people Ianto didn’t recognize from wherever they’d been holed up.  They lost visual, but Jack’s vortex manipulator was still broadcasting. 

They heard the order given for the weapon (Reality Bomb?  Really?) to be powered up.  Then they heard that sound.  That lovely, terrifying, amazing sound.  “Brilliant!” Jack beamed.

They tried to follow what was happening, but it was a bit difficult.  Apparently, there were two Doctors, now.  Something about a human biological metawhatsit.  Ianto turned to Luna.  “You said Doctors, earlier.  Plural.  I thought you were still disorientated.”  He grinned.  “Should’ve known better.”

“Oh, just wait,” Luna smiled.

Everyone crowded close together and held onto one another as they listened to the Dalek counting down the initiation sequence for the Reality Bomb.  This was it.  Gwen and Rhys embraced.

“Love you guys,” Tosh said.

Owen and Ianto were on either side of her.  They each kissed a cheek.  “Love you too, Toshiko,” Ianto said, then turned and kissed Luna on the cheek.  “Love you, Moon-Bug.”

“My Niffler,” she smiled and gave him a squeeze.

As the Dalek’s count reached one, an alarm began to sound.  A familiar voice could be heard, “Mmm, closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalized synchronous back-feed reversal loop.  That button there.”

They listened as, just like that, the tide turned.  Donna somehow outsmarted the Daleks, and in no time the planets were being returned to their rightful places.  Then the explanation came.  Donna was part Time Lord now, because of the metawhatsit.  “Three Doctors?” Rose gasped.

“I can’t tell you what I’m thinking, right now,” Jack quipped.

“Idiot,” Ianto chuckled fondly. 

Then a strange thing happened.  Dalek Caan began goading the metawhatsit Doctor into fulfilling the prophecy.  Madder still, he did it.  “Maximizing Dalekanium power feeds.  Blasting them back!” 

The Dalek at the door exploded and the green curse hit the wall behind it, safely dissipating.  Looking at the monitors, they saw that all of the Daleks on the Plass had met a similar fate.

“Time Lock disabled,” Tosh said.  “But the threat seems to be neutralized.”

The original Doctor had some sort of meltdown over the fulfillment of the prophecy.  He offered to save Davros, but the creature refused, naming the Doctor ‘The Destroyer of Worlds’.  Whatever.  The space station was not a world, and Ianto had a sneaking suspicion that Daleks were the cockroaches of the cosmos.  He was uncomfortably confident that they’d be back. 

And he did not think it was a good thing. 

The TARDIS left the Crucible just as it went up.  The Doctor called Torchwood hub and asked them to open up the Rift Manipulator and send the power to the TARDIS.  He then used Sarah Jane’s supercomputer to harness the Rift energy and loop it around the TARDIS, like a tow-rope.  There was something about a mechanical dog, but Ianto stopped listening as he focused on the manipulator, following Toshiko’s instructions.

Then came the wild ride back to their own solar system.  Ianto idly thought it was a good thing he could openly use his magic now, otherwise it would take weeks to clean up the hub, the muggle way. 

Once things started settling down, he glanced at Luna.  “I think I know what it is we might need to do,” he told her.  They headed for the sofa so she could confirm his hypothesis and fill him in.

***

The Doctor dropped off Jackie, Rose and the metacrisis Doctor in the alternate universe.  Mickey hugged Jackie goodbye, and the Doctor and Donna spent some moments convincing Rose that with the new guy, she could have the best of both worlds.

When they arrived in London, Sarah Jane said her farewells, then the Doctor disabled Jack’s vortex manipulator before bidding him, Martha, and Mickey farewell.  The three walked off, and the Doctor thought he could hear Jack offering them both jobs at Torchwood.

***

“Jack’s back on Earth,” Ianto said, standing.  He had been sitting quietly, strumming their bond, waiting for some sort of response.  He’d finally gotten one.  He took Luna’s hand, and they disapparated.

They appeared next to Jack, Martha, and Mickey, startling all three. 

“What the hell?” Mickey exclaimed.

Ianto grabbed Jack by the lapels and kissed him, hard and fast.  “See you in a bit.”

“Where are you…?”

“We need to help her,” Luna said, and they ran towards the TARDIS.

Standing before the doors, Ianto bowed his head.  “We’re here to help.  May we enter, Lady?”

The TARDIS gave a happy sort of purr and opened the door.  They heard Donna beginning to melt down.  “No, he’s fiction.  Friction, fiction, fixing, mixing, Rickston, Brixton.”  She gasped.  “Oh, my God.”

“Do you know what’s happening?” the Doctor asked.

“Yeah,” she breathed.

“There’s never been a human / Time Lord metacrisis, before now.  And you know why.”

“Because there can’t be.”  She looked at him, her eyes filled with tears.  “I want to stay.”

“Look at me.  Donna, look at me,” the Doctor looked very sad.

“I was going to stay with you forever.”

“I know.”

“The rest of my life, travelling in the TARDIS.  The Doctor Donna.”  Then her eyes widened as the full impact of what she was losing hit her.  “No.  Oh, my God.  I can’t go back.  Don’t make me go back,” she pleaded.  “Doctor, please, please don’t make me go back.”

“Donna.  Oh, Donna Noble.  I am so sorry.  But we had the best of times.”

“No,” she whimpered as he placed his hands on the sides of her head.

“The best.  Goodbye.”

“Doctor,” Ianto called out.  “Just a moment, please.”

The Doctor jerked around.  “Jack’s toy wizard?” he snarked.  “What are you doing here?”

Ianto figured he could let that one slide, since the Doctor thought he was about to lose his best friend.  “You don’t have to wipe her memory completely.”

“And you know this, do you?” the Doctor asked, his voice angry.

“I have seen it,” Luna said quietly.  “Let us help.  We can _obliviate_ her memory of the Doctor Donna.  She won’t burn up, but she can still keep her memories of her travels.”  Luna turned to Donna.  “I’m sorry, but you probably won’t be able to travel with him, any more.  But you can keep your memories,” she tilted her head and her eyes went out of focus.  “Through Midnight, I think.”

The Doctor looked at them.  “You have the sight?” he asked Luna.

Luna nodded.  She moved to stand before Donna.  “We can watch over her.  Take more, if it looks like it hasn’t worked.  But I believe this will work.”

“I’ll lose being the Doctor Donna, but I get to remember our travels?” Donna asked, tears still falling.

“May I?” Luna reached out.  At Donna’s nod, Luna touched her hands to either side of Donna’s head.  After a moment, she said, “Yes.  Here’s what will happen.  Ianto will use Legilimency to give me access, and I will _obliviate_ all of your memories, after the trip to Midnight.  Ianto will use his hypnosis so you will remember that the Doctor needed some time, after what happened on Midnight, so he brought you home.  You had a feeling that, because of what the Ood told him, he might not come back for you.  You have spent your time since then mourning and making your peace with it.”

“You can do that?” Donna looked from one to the other.

“You will still grieve,” Ianto said.  “But we can make it so you won’t forever wonder when or whether the Doctor will return for you.  We can help you to accept that what happened on Midnight made him need to be on his own, for a while.”

The Doctor was watching them.  “You need to do this, soon.”

“Yes,” Luna said.  Ianto refrained from smirking at the placating tone she managed to stuff into that single syllable.  Donna did smirk.

“I suppose,” she sniffed.  “It’s better than losing everything.  And you, you prawn,” she pointed a finger at the Doctor.  “You were just going to take it all, without my permission!”  She canted her head.  “Ow.”

“Time to do this,” Ianto said.  He sat her on the chair by the console and bracing his feet, he placed his hands on either side of her head.  He was to be the surrogate.  Using his Legilimency, he would access her memories and hold them up (metaphorically speaking) for Luna to _obliviate_.  It would take a great deal of power and effort, and he prayed for the strength to get it right.  Donna deserved it.

The first few minutes were fairly easeful.  Donna opened her mind to him, and they went back to Midnight.  Then, as the Doctor and Donna left the planet, he left her memory intact until they landed at their next destination.  From there, he began pulling her memory, like a series of handkerchiefs tied together.  He unknotted the memory at the point he found, and held up the remainder for Luna to begin the spell.

It was slow going, because he had to hold onto the string of memories so Luna could thoroughly erase each one.  And then, once everything through this moment was gone, he had to wander around, pulling all of the pieces of the Doctor Donna out of her psyche.  The intellect, which was a challenge, because Donna was far more intelligent than she gave herself credit for, so he had to be careful not to let Luna remove too much.  The personality quirks were next, and far easier.  And next were the emotional attachments to the identity of the Doctor Donna.

The Doctor watched the witch and wizard, fascinated.  It had not even occurred to him that any of Donna’s memories could be left intact.  It had just seemed too dangerous.  And yet, the more he saw of what they were doing, the more he understood the process, he realized that his scorched-earth approach would have served neither of them.  This way, even if he could no longer travel with his best friend, he would not have the pain of her not remembering him.

As he watched, Luna took a breath and blinked.  She nodded to him, then looked at Ianto.  Her eyes grew larger (and that was quite a feat, the Doctor thought) as she caught sight of him.  The Doctor had noticed it, about a quarter hour before, but he’d not really thought anything of it.  But he supposed it was a bit strange.

Ianto was partially transformed into his Wampus Cat animagus.  He was still human, mostly, but great tufts of grey fur were sticking out from where his tie had been loosened and his top couple of buttons undone.  He had the Cat’s ears, with tufts of black fur at the tips.  His hands on either side of Donna’s face were paws.  And his eyes were Cat-shaped and glowing a glittering shade of gold. 

His expression was one of intense focus as he took up the memory of leaving Midnight.  He inserted the memory that the next day, they landed on Earth.  Donna had packed most of her things, though not all, still holding out hope.  Perhaps someday the Doctor would return the rest.  She hugged the Doctor, having the terrible feeling that this might be goodbye. 

And then she went home.  She isolated herself and mourned.  She had not even called her friends to catch up.  She had just needed time to herself, really.  In the intervening time, she had become convinced that he would not be back, and she missed her friend.  And she missed their travels, their adventures. 

But she understood.  The prawn was her best friend, after all.  Midnight had deeply affected him.  As had whatever the Ood had meant, when they had bid them farewell.  She had a feeling that this regeneration of the Doctor might not be around, much longer, and he needed time to himself, to wrap his head around that.  Ianto had no idea where any of this was coming from.  Perhaps Luna?  He’d have to ask. 

As he finished suggesting Donna’s revised path since Midnight, he began poking around, to be sure they hadn’t missed anything.  He found the memory of the Ood calling them ‘Doctor-Donna-Friend’ and he revised it to ‘Donna, Doctor, Friends’ to ensure it could not trigger anything.  Once he was sure they were done, he suggested that Donna sleep, now.  As he released her, she slumped to the side, and he gently lay her down on the chair.

He was disconcerted to see that his hands were paws.  He held them up, then looked at Luna, who was smiling at him. 

“That’s quite a fetching look, Ianto.  Don’t let Jack see it.”  She giggled.  Then she put away her phone, having taken several pictures.

Ianto felt disorientated.  “We need to pack her things,” he said, shaking his head.

The Doctor looked up.  “The TARDIS was following what you did.  She knows what to do.”

Ianto shook his head again.  “Excuse me.”  He shifted fully to Wampus Cat, then to cougar, then back to human.  He looked at Luna, an eyebrow raised.

She smiled and nodded.

“I’ll help you get her home,” Ianto told the Doctor.  “Luna, can you get Jack back to Cardiff?  Tell him I won’t be very long.”  He kissed her cheek and after the Doctor thanked her, she went on her way.

The Doctor took them to Chiswick.  He knocked on the door and spoke to Wilf briefly.  Ianto found he rather liked the grandfather, and was pleasantly looking forward to getting to know his own, now.  He carried Donna to her room and placed her on her bed.  While the Doctor spoke to Donna’s mother and grandfather, Ianto carried her bags up to her room and quickly unpacked them.  He had to resort to legilimency once again in order to figure out where some things were meant to go, but he had her room sorted in fairly short order.

She began to stir just as he was finishing.  He hurried downstairs, where he and the Doctor bid Sylvia and Wilf farewell.  Once back at the TADIS, the Doctor turned to Ianto.  “Thank you,” he said quietly.  “Dalek Caan kept on and on with his prophesy that my most faithful companion would die.  I suppose I thought…”  He sighed.  “And while the Doctor Donna would have been just that, _Donna_ was able to walk away.”  He looked at Ianto.  “That’s down to you and Luna.  Thank you, Ianto.”

Ianto nodded.  “You all right?”

“Me?  I’m always all right.”

Ianto gave him a steely glare, and he crumbled.  “Okay, so no.  Not really.  I’ll miss her.  She was my best mate.”

“You can still contact her, you know.  Talk to her.  Email her.  Be pen pals, or something.  Don’t cut her off.  She deserves better than that.”

“I know.  But I’m very good at just walking away.”

“Are you?” Ianto challenged, and the Doctor realized that while he was good at the doing of it, he was no good at coping with the doing of it.  He looked at the young wizard.  “You sure you’re only twenty-five?”

Ianto nodded, then shrugged.  “Got a lot of living stuffed into those years, though.”

The Doctor chuckled.  “Can I drop you?”

Ianto smiled.  “No thanks.”  He shook the Doctor’s hand again, then looked at the ceiling.  He bowed his head.  “It was lovely meeting you, Lady,” he said.  The TARDIS gave one of her purrs again, and he chuckled.  Then, turning on the spot, he disapparated.

***

Harry and Theodophilus helped to repair and straighten the hub.  They even took care of the Dalek remains on the Plass and at the cog wheel door, sending them down to the incinerator, where Owen and Rhys hefted them in.  By the time Jack and Luna arrived, having left Mickey and Martha to their own devices in London, the place looked as it had when Theodophilus had arrived, the morning before.

Jack sent everyone home, knowing that the Rift would be fairly sluggish until it recovered from its bout as a tow-rope.  And the Weevils would likely stay in their nests until they felt more confident that the Earth would not be moving any more than it normally did.  Once he showered, Jack had little to do besides paperwork while he waited for Ianto.  He ordered some food, and it arrived just as Ianto did.

Ianto went to shower while Jack went to get the food.  Wilf called as they were eating, telling Ianto that Donna was abiding by the script that he had given her when he’d hypnotized her.  Everything seemed to have settled in, and she was doing fine.  She’d even said that maybe it was time to come out of mourning and call her friends.  She’d laughed about missing yet another big event as they told her about the planets in the sky.

Ianto had a feeling that Jack would be making a third job offer, before the week was out.

Once they had eaten, they fell upon one another with a near-frenzied need.  After loving for quite a while, they lay in a sated heap of tangled limbs and sheets.  Jack gently traced the skin under Ianto’s eyes, noting it looked bruised.  “You look exhausted, Kitten.”

Ianto gave a tired smile.  “Don’t be surprised if I sleep for a couple of days.  What we did for Donna…  It took a lot out of me.”

Jack nodded, then leaned in for a slow, unhurried kiss that had the young wizard sighing.  “Sleep,” he whispered, pulling Ianto close and savoring the purr he got in response.  “I’ll let you fuss at me for leaving without you, tomorrow.”

***

**Author's Note:**

> So I've borrowed heavily from the scripts for "The Stolen Earth" and "Journey's End". And I've moved some dialogue to Owen and Tosh, since they weren't there, the first time around. Because it follows the plot for the episodes so closely - I felt like there was a lot of "and then this happened" - I feel a bit less sure of this one.
> 
> But it's almost entirely from the POV of Torchwood, with some side conversations added in - particularly to move along Theodophilus' involvement. 
> 
> And I loved Harriet and Donna, so... Couldn't be helped, really.
> 
> Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, I see Charles Dance in my mind's eye for Theodophilus Jones...
> 
> Hope you like - kudo and comment if you do. Thanks for reading!


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